ANDES. 







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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1888. 



ANDES. 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCQTT COMPANY. 

1888. 



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Copyright, 1888, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 



«I| ||STEREOTYP£RSanoPRINTERSI| 1 



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ANDES. 



Andes, a lofty mountain-system of South America, 
extending north and south along the Pacific coast of 
that continent, throughout its whole extent. Geographi- 
cally, it may be regarded as an extension of the vast 
and complicated mountain-system of Western North 
America, although it is not distinctly connected with 
that system. As the Andean chain approaches the 
Isthmus of Darien, after having crossed the Atrato, it 
is represented by a low crest of serpentine, at one point 
only 130 feet high ; and much of the Isthmus proper 
is even lower than that. 

The mountains of the Fuegian Archipelago, south of 
the mainland of South America, must be held to belong 
to this system. Cape Horn, on a detached island, is 
regarded as the most southerly point of the chain, which, 
however, may be said to extend to the rocky islets of 
Diego Eamirez, 60 miles SW. of the Cape. Without 
allowing for curves, the Andes extend some 4500 Eng- 
lish miles. For about 1000 miles (south of Chiloe), 
the mountains not only reach the ocean, but in part 
stand in its waters, for the great Chonos Archipelago is 
only an irregular double chain of mountains. Indeed 
some geographers hold that these islands for at least 300 
miles north of Cape Horn, in reality represent the main 
chain of the Andes. The Patagonian portion of the 



4 ANDES. 

system is much cut by steep ravines, sometimes partly 
filled with glaciers, and not seldom occupied by deep 
fjords, or arms of the sea. On the eastern slope in 
Patagonia lie vast masses of granite, porphyry, basalt, 
and lava ; and on both sides of the ranges vegetation is 
luxuriant; extensive forests covering a large proportion 
of the surface. This is chiefly due to the excessive 
abundance of the rainfall, to which cause also must be 
ascribed the numerous and rather large sub-Andean 
lakes of Patagonia, and the swift and copious streams 
which water its wild and gloomy terraces — for the ascent 
to the mountains is here by a step-like succession of 
steep rises. The Patagonian Andes cover a strip of 
land from 20 to 50 miles in breadth, and, as will be seen 
in the table given below, are not of great height. 

Between lat. 42° and 24° S. the main chain of the 
Andes recedes from the sea-coast, leaving in Chili a tract 
of country nowhere exceeding 120 geographical miles 
in breadth. The mountains here reach a mean elevation 
of 11,830 feet; one of the peaks (Aconcagua) is the 
loftiest on the American continent. In this region, both 
to the north and to the south, there is but one main line 
of peaks ; but between these two parts two high parallel 
ranges occur, having between them a relatively low 
plateau. A low parallel ridge of granite skirts the 
mountains to seaward. On the Argentine side a great 
number of buttress-like processes extend into the Pam- 
pas country, chiefly having a south-easterly direction 
except to the northward, where they are numerous, and 
are nearly parallel with the main Andes. The Bolivian 
Andes occupy perhaps one-third of the area of the re- 
public. They form a vast arid region of great elevation. 



ANDES. 5 

The east and west Cordilleras of Bolivia inclose the 
land-locked plateau of the Desaguadero, 13,000 feet in 
height, and having an area of 30,000 sq. m. It has 
thus about the superficial extent of Ireland, and has 
been called i the navel of South America/ In the 
vicinity are several much smaller land-locked basins of 
similar character; and near at hand are some of the 
loftiest of the Andean summits. 

The Peruvian Andes present features of great interest. 
The maritime Cordillera overlooks the sea in a close 
succession of volcanic cones. Near lat. 10° S. the chain 
divides into the seaward Cordillera Negra, and the more 
eastward Cordillera Nevada, with a deep trough or 
ravine intervening. The central Cordillera of Peru is 
the chain which bounds the Titicaca basin on the west. 
No river, except the Maranon (Upper Amazon), cuts 
through its vast wall-like ridges. The eastern Andes 
of Peru lie between a high, cool, western valley and the 
hot and seething forest plains of the Amazonian basin. 
They form a magnificent succession of grand peaks, 
with only very local evidences of recent volcanic action. 
To the north they decline greatly in elevation. Here 
the grandest scenery of the Andes is to be witnessed. 
The lofty wildernesses of the high Peruvian Andes form 
a cold and wind-swept region known as the Puna, and 
are scarcely habitable. In the SW. of Ecuador the 
various ridges of the Andes coalesce, immediately to 
divide again into two main chains, both characterised by 
intense volcanic activity. Transverse ridges divide the 
intervening valley into three basins, that of Cuenca in 
the south, Ambato in the centre, and Quito (with its 
fine climate and productive soil) in the north. The 



6 



ANDES. 



Cuenca basin is 7800 feet in elevation, that of Ambato 
8500, and that of Quito 9500 feet. 

The Colombian Andes are disposed in three main 
lines. The maritime range runs north and ends at 
Cape Tiburon, on the coast of the Caribbean Sea. It 
declines greatly in height to the northward, and the 
same thing is true of the central range, which in the 
south, near the great paramo or tableland of Cruz 
Yerde, are very lofty. The very lofty eastern range 
(Cordillera of Suma Paz) extends to the NE., and near 
the Venezuelan boundary it forks out into two chains, 
one of which forms the Goajira peninsula west of Lake 
Maracaibo, and the other becomes the main Venezuelan 
mountain-system. Near Caracas the mountains skirt 
the sea-coast. Only a few of the peaks of the Venez- 
uelan Andes rise above the snow-line. 



PLATEAUS. 

Of the numerous plateaus of 
the Andes system, one, Assuay, 
is at a height of 14,500 feet 
That of Titicaca, the Collao, is 
12,500 feet; of Cruz Verde, 
11,695 feet; of Pasco, 11,000 
feet; of Quito, 9500 feet; of 
Bogota, 8958 feet. 

HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS. 



Fuegian Andes : 


Feet. 


Mount Sarmiento . . 


6910 


Mount Darwin . . . 


6600 


Cape Horn 


3000 


Patagonian Andes : 




Yanteles 


8030 


Corcovado (volcano) . 


7510 



HEIGHTS OE MOUNTAINS. 

Chilian Andes Proper : Feet. 

Aconcagua 22,427 

Cima del Mercedario . 22,302 
Tupungato 20,269 

Bolivian Andes : 

Gualtieri 22,000 

Sorata 21,290 

* Illimani 21,150 

Peruvian Andes : 

Huascan 22,000 

Huandoy 21,088 

Arequipa 18,373 

Ecuadorian Andes : 

Chimborazo 20,517 

Cotopaxi 19,550 

Antisana 19,260 

Cayambe 19,200 



ANDES. 



HEIGHTS OF MOUNTAINS. 


Colombian Andes : 


Feet. 


Cocui 


. 19,300 


Tolima 


. 18,314 


Sierra Nevada de 




Santa Marta . . . 


. 17,500 


Venezuelan Andes : 




Sierra de Merida . . 


. 15,342 



PASSES. 

Of nine notable Chilian 
passes, the lowest (Planchon) 



is 11,455 feet high, the highest 
(Dona Ana), 14,770 feet. In 
the Bolivian Andes the passes 
of Potosi and Gualillos are re- 
spectively 14,220 and 14,380 
feet ; of Peruvian passes, Jacai- 
bamba is 15,135 feet, and Anta- 
runga, 16,196 feet high ; while 
Assuay, in the Ecuadorian An- 
des, is 12,385 feet ; and Quindiu, 
in the Colombian Andes, is 
11,500 feet high. 



Geologically, the Andes are by no means a unity. It 
is certain that the elevation of the different parts must 
have occurred at various times. The great bulk of the 
mountain masses is composed of stratified rocks, largely 
made up of materials which were deposited at the sea- 
bottom. It is believed that as a whole the formative 
sediment must have accumulated on subsiding areas. 
Upheaval, denudation, and direct volcanic action have 
been the other leading factors in the building and shap- 
ing of the mountains. The mineral wealth is great and 
varied. Volcanic action is still very active in Ecuador, 
but less so in the other parts of the chain. The Chilian 
volcanoes are numerous, but are seldom very active. 
Earthquakes occur frequently all along the coast from 
Caracas to Chiloe. Gold, silver, copper, mercury, and 
other metals abound in nearly every part of the Andes. 
The silver product is still very large. Further details 
of the mining industries of the Andes are given under 
the names of the various countries traversed by the 
range. 

The effect of the Andes in drying the atmospheric 



8 ANDES. 

currents that flow over them from the eastward, and the 
almost uniform desert character of most of the Pacific 
slope, are noticed in the article America. The awful 
canons and chasms of the Andes, the sublime height of 
their peaks, the difficult and dangerous character of the 
passes, the rich and varied vegetable life of the eastern 
slope, and the steep descent of the generally barren 
Pacific slope, all give elements of great interest to this 
great range. 




015 811 200 



